Below is verdant leaf and flower, Flora and fauna everywhere; The peaks are wrapt in perpetual snow And lit by the sun’s fierce glare. Below is the sigh of soft winds And the ripple of cooling streams; Aloft is the bitterest air, Where the frost eternally gleams. The sides of the mountains ever Are great waves of emerald green; While the streams, from summits falling White as snow, are foaming between; The cedar and pine trees ever Tossing aloft their fronded plumes, Where the winds forever whisper Nature’s subtle and mournful runes. And through and beyond the Selkirks, Down the Fraser we calmly glide-- All hail, fair British Columbia, Thou rich gem by the ocean’s side! Lovely land of mountain and stream, We greet thee with bosom aflame; A crown of laurel awaits thee, We sing of thy greatness and fame. The fleets of the world come to thee; Thy cities are growing apace; Thou art vigorously gaining, And everywhere we may trace Prosperity and refinement In those far west Canadian homes; The field and the mine contribute, And we hail thee in heartiest tones. Out o’er a measure of ocean, Of ripple and bright sunny smile, The sea accords us a welcome To Vancouver’s fair sea-girt isle-- Last link in the chain of our union, A bright gem in the Western sea, Imbued with loyal devotion, Prosperous and happy and free. We breathe the ozone of ocean, Where our mammoth ships sail away To the land of the Celestials, And the Japs, at the break of day. And southward unto Australia, And the distant isles of the sea, Our commerce is fast extending, Reaching out vigorously. Northward, by Behring and Polar seas, E’er fearlessly our good ships go, Undeterred by storms of the deep, Or perpetual frost and snow; Seeking and finding seal and whale, Faithful hearts that know no fear, Venturing all in the enterprise For their home and loved ones dear. Returning by our “golden north,” Penetrating the Arctic zone, Bordering on the frozen deep, All so desolate and so lone; Flitting by Great Slave and Bear Lakes, “The fur country,” winning our way By Rupert’s Land, lonesome and strange, Leading downward by Hudson Bay. Gaining the stormy Atlantic, And wafted, by headland and shore, Past the homes of our brave fishers On e’er desolate Labrador, Thus we have circled the Dominion, A vast and wonderful domain; Exhaustless in her resources, The world shall yet ring with her fame.